OT: going to Red Wings/ jackets game

Submitted by death by wolverine on
Going to Red Wings vs Blue Jackets game tomorrow in Columbus. Has anyone been to the arena before? If so, how are the fans? This is also my first NHL game.

justingoblue

February 27th, 2012 at 8:25 PM ^

Congrats on your first NHL game. Be prepared to be taken by surprise if you mostly watch college: the NHL is just stupidly fast by comparison, and you see that even moreso in person.

I haven't ever been to a Columbus game, but I would probably expect a fairly full house and a lot of red, judging by the United Center in the late 1990's and early 2000's (when the Hawks were pretty bad) and the distance between a fair amount of Detroit fans and Columbus.

True Blue in CO

February 28th, 2012 at 7:11 AM ^

With the CBJ having one of their most forgettable seasons, there is a good chance there are more Red Wing fans than BlueJacket fans in the house. It is a great arena so if you have a chance, take a walk around the main concourse. The local fans will not give you any grief and they have come to know their hockey. Plan to have an after game beverage either in the arena bar or one of the many local bars next door.

death by wolverine

February 27th, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^

Thanks guys. I figured there will be a lot of Wings fans being so close. I live in Dayton, so it's only a 45 minute drive. My wife actually bought me tickets for Christmas. We are in row K, so we should be pretty close to the action.

BlueRude

February 27th, 2012 at 8:23 PM ^

If you don't don the winged wheel you will be looked upon as a visitor. Yes, you will be in Columbo but it's also Detroit's 2 point per "home' game". Lot of Detroit fans and displaced Detroiters there. Look at it this way, when you used to go to a Lions game, there were these strange looking idiots in the Dome and Ford field with cheese on their heads, more than Lion's fans. Hope this helps out in a backass analogy.

Yell out to the guy looking like a polish keilbasa on skates wearing  # 93, let him know this is not open skating time.

Enjoy

HE16MAN

February 27th, 2012 at 8:24 PM ^

i'll be there as well. My company rents out a suite once a year to take our Honda counterparts to a game. It's a very nice arena. even for C-Bus.....

1464

February 27th, 2012 at 10:19 PM ^

What company is that?  I live in Marysville.  I also used to manage a bar for the guys who owned Frog Bear, so I used to get seats at Nationwide all the time.  They had an endzone suite for the Deestroyers too, which was actually a whole lot of fun.

Dubs

February 27th, 2012 at 8:24 PM ^

From what I've heard, when Pittsburgh and Detroit are in town, it's hard to tell Columbus is the home team.



You should be largely amongst fellow fans, based on the Jacket's season.

ColsBlue

February 27th, 2012 at 8:29 PM ^

Glad you're headed over, we'll be at the game ourselves.  Great arena, very clean, lots of concessions.  We've been to several Wings games down here, always a pretty friendly, pro-Wings crowd.  There are always one or two lame hate Michigan moments (on the scoreboard, chants by Ohio fans).  Several options near the arena for a pre-game beer and/or food.  Overall, should be a great experience for your first game (capped by a big Wings victory!).    

Charlestown Chiefs

February 27th, 2012 at 8:48 PM ^

Been to at least 7 different NHL venues.  Compared to the Joe it's quite a bit quieter in regards to music volume but the venue itself is quite nice. 

We went down for a game 2 years ago and was laughed at when I asked the beer vendor if he was really allowing people to walk away with open glass bottles.  His response: "Hell yes.  You're in Ohio now."  I swear I'm not making this up.  I was stunned.

Hlprn302

February 27th, 2012 at 10:17 PM ^

You'll feel right at home. Easy parking, fans are chill.  Not a hard ticket to get this year-unlike the upcoming NCAA tournie games down here

Ed:If you're looking for a place to grab a bite beforehand, I'd recommend Milestone 229-its from Columbus Brewing Company and it isn't as packed as CBC or Gordon Biersch. Good CBC brews on tap, awesome triple pulled pork sandwich

JR's Flow

February 27th, 2012 at 10:20 PM ^

freeredwings.tv has been shut down. :'(((

The guy who runs it says the NHL contacted him and that he could get some jail time if he didn't stop. He also isn't planning on changing the url or anything either.

Darth Wolverine

February 28th, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^

Yeah, I went to use that site for the first time last week but saw that message he put on the site. I have multiple links though to other streaming sites that are still running. If you want them, post your e-mail and I can send them to you.

Ohio_Blue_81

February 27th, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^

I also am going to this game as I do at least once a year. there are always more RedWings fans at Natiowide Arena when they play the Blue Jackets. Very entertaining atmosphere and the fans are always respectful towards DRW fans 'cause they know who fills the stands!!

BlueinLansing

February 28th, 2012 at 1:52 AM ^

there's like 4 people on this thread who are going to the Redwings game in Columbus.  How random is that?

 

You'll be among friends for sure.  Nice Arena, nice area around the arena.  In general I like Columbus just can't stand the Buckeyeness of the whole area.  Its insane.

Musket Rebellion

February 28th, 2012 at 3:16 AM ^

My first NHL game was a Red Wings game in Columbus as well. Their fans are almost as bad as Ohio fans, yet incredibly more ignorant about the sport they are watching. A man sitting behind me spent the entire second period trying to stuff peanut shells down my shirt. A real classy group of people. 

Darth Wolverine

February 28th, 2012 at 10:14 AM ^

A friend of mine (namely MGoJeff) went to a Wings/Jackets game in Cbus a few years ago (and he is a Wings fan mind you) and the Wings lost the game, but there were these idiot Buckeye fans yelling, "JUST LIKE FOOTBALL, JUST LIKE FOOTBALL!"

Seriously? it really isn't like football considering 1) this is a professional sport and not college, 2) the Wings play in Detroit and obviously not Ann Arbor. Ohio fans take it so far to where it's basically the state of Ohio versus the state of Michigan, no matter what the competition involves.

I hate them.

kehnonymous

February 28th, 2012 at 10:54 AM ^

The R-Bar (http://www.rbararena.com/) is a pretty cool good pre-game hangout.  My friend from Detroit runs the Anchor Bar near the Joe and is friends with the R-Bar owner. It should be a short walk from the arena - I used to work around that area and the Arena District is... better maintained than OSU's campus neighborhood.  In the same way that Mattison is a better defensive coordinator than GERG.

(GERG's hair is better maintained than all these things, of course)

Like Hlprn302 said, Milestone 229 (haven't been there yet, unfortunately) on the Scioto has got a great reputation as one of the city's best new restaurants.  Columbus, for all its flaws, has a lot of great restaurants for its size.  Do note that Milestone 229 is also a bit far away from the arena.  You probably could walk to it, but it's several blocks away. 

I personally find Gordon Bierch overcrowded and vanilla but I'm not a beer drinker myself.  For more pre-game dining options, If you walk up a block or so north from the arena, you'll see the North Market - it's kinda like Cleveland's West Side Market with a lot of cheapish but very good dining options covering a pretty broad swath of cuisines.  My personal faves include the Vietnamese place or the wild game place.  Also, Jeni's Ice Cream is always worth it.

UAUM

February 28th, 2012 at 4:19 PM ^

It is crowded, but it's a total hockey bar.  Plus, the weather tonight is supposed to be nice and they might have the patio open.  R-Bar is just a short walk across the bridge past Gordon Biersch.

CAHLChamp

February 28th, 2012 at 11:15 AM ^

Add one more to the count of folks headed to the game tonight.  Even though its kind of a chain, the Boston's Pizza on Nationwide across the street from the rink runs good game day specials.  I think its $2 domestics and $1 slices of pizza, something like that.  And echoing others, R Bar is a hockey bar; its a great place to go after the game as they will have other games on about 10 TV's.

Another bar that I have been known to frequent is Novak's on High.  Its right behind the North Market parking lot, about 2 blocks from the rink.  Just a good dive bar.

Enjoy yourself, and Go Wings!!

UAUM

February 28th, 2012 at 3:51 PM ^

I moved here in '04 too.  And from your user name it looks like you won an adult hockey league championship.  Which team do you play for? 

I play for a couple teams in the CAHL and I'm trying to get up to AA for the hockey equipment sale and buy all  M gear (pants, practice jersey, socks, gloves, and helmet if there are any).  Just think it would be awesome to skate around Columbus with all Michigan gear and piss everyone off.  I'm sure I'll take a few cross checks for it, but it will be worth it.

kehnonymous

February 28th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^

Fun fact:  the Boston's the Gourmet Pizza brand was founded in Edmonton and is now headquartered near Vancouver, British Columbia.  It's known in Canada as simply "Boston Pizza"  From what I remember, the founders called it 'Boston' simply because it sounded big and metropolitan.  (You might ask why they didn't name if after Toronto?  In Canada, that'd be a death mark on the chain everywhere outside of the 416)  Naturally it sued Boston Market over the use of the word Boston when Boston Market expanded to Canada.

BigT

February 28th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^

I work right around the corner from the arena and while I agree that Red Wings games usually have more Detroit fans than CBJ fans, and that CBJ fans usualy aren't too in your face, there has been a real buzz about the team trading Carter and trying to deal Nash today.  People might actually show up tonight / be a little more frothy than normal.